IV.v.79 (108,1) Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector] Shakespeare's thought is not exactly deduced. Nicety of expression is not his character. The cleaning is plain, "Valour (says AEneas) is in Hector greater than valour in other men, and pride in Hector is less than pride in other men. So that Hector is distinguished by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valour more than other valour."

IV.v.103 (109,2) an impair thought] A thought suitable to the dignity of his character. This word I should have changed to

impure

, were I not over-powered by the unanimity of the editors, and concurrence of the old copies, (rev. 1778, IX, 120, 8)

IV.v.105 (109,3) Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes/To tender objects] That is,

yields, gives

way.

IV.v.112 (110,4) thus translate him to me] Thus

explain his character

IV.v.142 (111,5)

Hect.

Not Neoptolemus so mirable] After all this contention it is difficult to imagine that the critic believes

mirable

to have been changed to

irascible

. I should sooner read,

Not Neoptolemus th' admirable;

as I know not whether

mirable

can be found in any other place. The correction which the learned commentator gave to Hanmer,

Not Neoptolemus'

sire

so mirable,

as it was modester than this, was preferable to it. But nothing is more remote from justness of sentiment, than for Hector to characterise Achilles as the father of Neoptolemus, a youth that had not yet appeared in arms, and whose name was therefore much less knovn than his father's. My opinion is, that by Neoptolemus the author meant Achilles himself; and remembering that the son was Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, considered Neoptolemus as the nomen gentilitium, and thought the father was likewise Achilles Neoptolemus.

IV.v.147 (112,6) We'll answer it] That is, answer the

expectance

IV.v.275 (117,5) Beat loud the tabourines] For this the quarto and the latter editions have,

To taste your bounties.—

The reading which I have given from the folio seems chosen at the revision, to avoid the repetition of the word

bounties

V.i.5 (118,1) Thou crusty batch of nature]

Batch

is changed by Theobald to

botch

, and the change is justified by a pompous note, which discovers that he did not know the word

batch

. What is more strange, Hanmer has followed him.

Batch

is any thing

baked

V.i.19 (119,3) Male-varlet] HANMER reads

male-harlot

, plausibly enough, except that it seems too plain to require the explanation which Patroclus demands.

V.i.23 (119,4) cold palsies] This catalogue of loathsome maladies ends in the folio at

cold palsies

. This passage, as it stands, is in the quarto: the retrenchment was in my opinion judicious. It may be remarked, though it proves nothing, that, of the few alterations made by Milton in the second edition of his wonderful poem, one was, an enlargement of the enumeration of diseases.

V.i.32 (119,5) you ruinous butt; you whoreson indistinguishable cur] Patroclos reproaches Thersites with deformity, with having one part crowded into another.

V.i.35 (119,6) thou idle immaterial skeyn of sley'd silk] All the terms used by Thersites of Patroclus, are emblematically expressive of flexibility, compliance, and mean officiousness.

V.i.40 (119,7) Out, gall!] HANMER reads

nut-gall

, which answers well enough to

finch-egg

; it has already appeared, that our author thought the

nut-gall

the bitter gall. He is called

nut

, from the conglobation of his form; but both the copies read,

Out, gall

V.i.41 (120,8) Finch egg!] Of this reproach I do not know the exact meaning. I suppose he means to call him

singing bird

, as implying an useless favourite, and yet more, something more worthless, a singing bird in the egg, or generally, a slight thing easily crushed.

V.i.64 (121,2) forced with wit] Stuffed with wit. A term of cookery.—In this speech I do not well understand what is meant by

loving quails

V.i.73 (121,3) spirits and fires!] This Thersites speaks upon the first sight of the distant lights.

V.ii.11 (124,1) And any man may sing her, if he can take her cliff] That is, her

key

Clef

, French.

V.ii.41 (125,2) You flow to great distraction] So the moderns. The folio has,

You

flow

to great

distraction

.—

The quarto,

You

flow

to great

destruction

.—

I read,

You

show too

great distraction.—

V.ii.108 (128,7) But with my heart the other eye doth see] I think it should be read thus,

But

my heart with

the other eye doth see.

V.ii.113 (128,8) A proof of strength she could not publish more] She could not publish a stronger proof.

V.ii.125 (129,1) I cannot conjure, Trojan] That is, I cannot raise spirits in the form of Cressida.

V.ii.141 (129,2) If there be rule in unity itself] I do not well understand what is meant by

rule in unity

. By

rule

our author, in this place as in others, intends

virtuous restraint, regularity of manners, command of passions and appetites

. In Macbeth,

He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause

Within the belt of rule.—

But I know not how to apply the word in this sense to

unity

. I read,

If there be rule in

purity

itself,

Or, If there be rule in

verity

itself.

Such alterations would not offend the reader, who saw the state of the old editions, in which, for instance, a few lines lower,

the almighty sun

is called

the almighty fenne

.—Yet the words may at last mean, If there be

certainty

unity

, if it be a

rule

that

one is one

V.ii.144 (130,3) Bi-fold authority!] This is the reading of the quarto. The folio gives us,

By foul

authority!—

There is

madness

in that disquisition in which a man reasons at once

for

and

against himself upon authority

which he knows

not to be valid

. The quarto is right.

V.ii.144 (130,4)

where reason can revolt

Without perdition, and loss assume all reason

Without revolt]

The words

loss

and

perdition

are used in their common sense, but they mean the

loss

perdition

reason

V.ii.157 (131,6) And with another knot five-finger-tied] A knot tied by giving her hand to Diomed.

V.ii.160 (131,7) o'er-eaten faith] Vows which she has already swallowed

once over

. We still say of a faithless man, that he has

eaten his words

V.ii.161 (131,8)

Ulyss.

May worthy Troilus be half attach'd

With that which here his passion doth express!]

Can Troilus really feel on this occasion half of what he utters? A question suitable to the calm Ulysses.

V.iii.21 (133,2)

For us to count we give what's gain'd by thefts,

And rob in the behalf of charity]

This is so oddly confused in the folio, that I transcribe it as a specimen of incorrectness:

—do not count it holy,

To hurt by being just; it were as lawful

For we would count give much to as violent thefts

And rob in the behalf of charity.

V.iii.23 (133,3)

Cas.

It is the purpose that makes strong the vow;

But vows to every purpose must not hold]

The mad prophetess speaks here with all the coolness and judgment of a skilful casuist. "The essence of a lawful vow, is a lawful purpose, and the vow of which the end is wrong must not be regarded as cogent."

V.iii.27 (134,4)

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man

Holds honour far more precious dear than life]

Valuable

man. The modern editions read,

—

brave

man.

The repetition of the word is in our author's manner.

V.iii.37 (134,5)

Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,

Which better fits a lion, than a man]

The traditions and stories of the darker ages abounded with examples of the lion's generosity. Upon the supposition that these acts of clemency were true, Troilus reasons not improperly, that to spare against reason, by mere instinct of pity, became rather a generous beast than a wise man.

V.x.33 (137,9) Hence, broker lacquey!] For

brothel

, the folio reads

brother

, erroneously for

broker

, as it stands at the end of the play where the lines are repeated. Of

brother

the following editors made

brothel

V.iv.18 (138,2) the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion] To set up the authority of ignorance to declare that they will be governed by policy no longer.

V.vi.11 (142,1) you cogging Greeks] This epithet has no particular propriety in this place, but the author had heard of

Graecia Mendax

V.vi.29 (144,3) I'll frush it] The word

frush

I never found elsewhere, nor understand it. HANMER explains it, to

break

bruise

V.viii.7 (146,1) Even with the vail and darkening of the sun] The

vail

is, I think, the

sinking

of the sun; not

veil

cover

(149) General Observation. This play is more correctly written than most of Shakespeare's compositions, but it is not one of those in which either the extent of his views or elevation of his fancy is fully displayed. As the story abounded with materials, he has exerted little invention; but he has diversified his characters with great variety, and preserved them with great exactness. His vicious characters sometimes disgust, but cannot corrupt, for both Cressida and Pandarus are detested and contemned. The comic characters seem to have been the favourites of the writer; they are of the superficial kind, and exhibit more of manners than nature; but they are copiously filled and powerfully impressed. Shakespeare has in his story followed, for the greater part, the old book of Caxton, which was then very popular; but the character of Thersites, of which it makes no mention, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had published his version of

Homer

CYMBELINE

I.i.1 (153,2)

You do not meet a man, but frowns: our bloods

No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers'

Still seen, as does the king's]

This passage is so difficult, that commentators may differ concerning it without animosity or shame. Of the two emendations proposed, Hanmer's is the more licentious; but he makes the sense clear, and leaves the reader an easy passage. Dr. Warburton has corrected with more caution, but less improvement: his reasoning upon his own reading is so obscure and perplexed, that I suspect some injury of the press.—I am now to tell my opinion, which is, that the lines stand as they were originally written, and that a paraphrase, such as the licentious and abrupt expressions of our author too frequently require, will make emendation unnecessary.

We do not meet a man but frowns; our bloods

—our countenances, which, in popular speech, are said to be regulated by the temper of the blood,—

no more obey

the laws of

heaven

,—which direct us to appear what we really are,—

than our courtiers

;—that is, than the

bloods of our courtiers

; but our bloods, like theirs,—

still seem, as doth the king's

I.i.25 (155,3) I do extend him, Sir, within himself] I extend him within himself: my praise, however

extensive

, is

within

his merit.

I.i.46 (156,4) liv'd in court,/(Which rare it is to do) most prais'd, most lov'd] This encomium is high and artful. To be at once in any great degree

loved

and

praised

is truly

rare

I.i.49 (156,5) A glass that feated them]

A glass that featur'd them

] Such is the reading in all the modern editions, I know not by whom first substituted, for

A glass that

feared

them;—

I have displaced

featur'd

, though it can plead long prescription, because I am inclined to think that

feared

has the better title.

Mirrour

was a favourite word in that age for an

example

, or a

pattern

, by noting which the manners were to be formed, as dress is regulated by looking in a glass. When Don Bellianis is stiled

The Mirrour of Knighthood

, the idea given is not that of a glass in which every knight may behold his own resemblance, but an example to be viewed by knights as often as a glass is looked upon by girls, to be viewed, that they may know, not what they are, but what they ought to be. Such a glass may

fear the more mature

, as displaying excellencies which they have arrived at maturity without attaining. To

fear

is here, as in other places, to

fright

. [I believe Dr. Johnson is mistaken as to the reading of the folio, which is

feated

. The page of the copy which he consulted is very faintly printed; but I have seen another since, which plainly gives this reading. STEEVENS.] If

feated

be the right word, it must, I think, be explained thus;

a glass that

formed

them

; a model, by the contemplation and inspection of which they formed their manners. (see 1765, VII, 260, 4)

I.i.86 (158,1)

I something fear my father's wrath; but nothing

(Always reserv'd my holy duty) what

His rage can do on me]

I say I do not fear my father, so far as I may say it without breach of duty.

I.i.101 (158,2) Though ink be made of gall] Shakespeare, even in this poor conceit, has confounded the vegetable

galls

used in ink, with the animal

gall

, supposed to be bitter.

I.i.132 (160,4) then heapest/A year's age on me] Dr. WARBURTON reads,

yare

age on me.

It seems to me, even from SKINNER, whom he cites, that

yare

is used only as a personal quality. Nor is the authority of Skinner sufficient, without some example, to justify the alteration. HANMER's reading is better, but rather too far from the original copy:

—thou heapest

many

A year's age on me.

I read,

—thou heap'st

Years, ages

on me.

I.i.135 (160,5) a touch more rare/Subdues all pangs, all fears]

Rare

is used often for

eminently good

; but I do not remember any passage in which it stands for

eminently bad

. May we read,

—a touch more

near

Cura deam

propior luctusque domesticus angit.

Ovid

Shall we try again,

—a touch more

rear

Crudum vulnus.

But of this I know not any example. There is yet another interpretation, which perhaps will remove the difficulty.

A touch more rare

, may mean

a nobler passion

I.i.140 (161,6) a puttock] A

kite

I.ii.31 (163,1) her beauty and her brain go not together] I believe the lord means to speak a sentence, "Sir, as I told you always, beauty and brain go not together."

I.ii.32 (164,2) She's a good sign] There is acuteness enough in this note, yet I believe the poet meant nothing by

sign

, but

fair outward

shew.

I.iii.8 (165,2)

for so long

As he could make me with this eye, or ear,

Distinguish him from others]

Sir T. HANMER alters it thus:

—for so long

As he could

mark

me with his eye, or

Distinguish—

The reason of Hanmer's reading was, that Pisanio describes no address made to the

ear

I.iii.18 (165,3) till the diminution/Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle]

The diminution of space

, is

the diminution

of which

space

is the cause. Trees are killed by a blast of lightning, that is, by

blasting

, not

blasted

lightning.

I.iii.24 (166,4) next vantage] Next

opportunity

I.iii.37 (166,6) Shakes all our buds from growing] A bud, without any distinct idea, whether of flower or fruit, is a natural representation of any thing incipient or immature; and the buds of flowers, if flowers are meant,

grow

to flowers, as the buds of fruits

grow

to fruits.

I.iv.9 (167,1) makes him] In the sense in which we say, This will

make

mar

you.

I.iv.16 (167,2) words him, I doubt not, a great deal from the matter] Makes the description of him very distant from the truth.

I.iv.20 (167,3) under her colours] Under her banner; by her influence.

I.iv.47 (168,6) I was then a young traveller; rather shunn'd to go even with what I heard, than in my every action to be guided by others' experiences] This is expressed with a kind of fantastical perplexity. He means, I was then willing to take for my direction the experience of others, more than such intelligence as I had gathered myself.

I.iv,58 (169,7) 'Twas a contention in publick, which may, without contradiction, suffer the report] Which, undoubtedly, may be publickly told.

I.iv.73 (169,8) tho' I profess myself her adorer, not her friend] Though I have not the common obligations of a lover to his mistress, and regard her not with the fondness of a friend, but the reverence of an adorer.

I.iv.77 (169,9) If she went before others I have seen, as that diamond of yours out-lustres many I have beheld, I could not believe she excelled many] I should explain the sentence thus: "Though your lady excelled, as much as your diamond,

I could not believe she excelled many

; that is, I too

could

yet

believe that there are

many

whom

she did not excel." But I yet think Dr. Warburton right. (1773)

I.iv.104 (171,l) to convince the honour of my mistress] [

Convince

, for overcome. WARBURTON.] So in

Macbeth

—their malady

convinces

"The great essay of art."

I.iv.124 (171,2) abus'd]

Deceiv'd.

I.iv.134 (172,3) approbation] Proof.

I.iv.148 (172,4) You are a friend, and therein the wiser. If you buy ladies' flesh at a million a dram, you cannot preserve it from tainting. But, I see, you have some religion in you, that you fear]

You are a friend

to the lady,

and therein the wiser

, as you will not expose her to hazard; and that you

fear

, is a proof of your

religious

fidelity. (see 1765, VII, 276, 1)

I.iv.l60 (173,5)

Iach.

If I bring you no sufficient testimony that I have enjoy'd the dearest bodily part of your mistress, my ten thousand ducats are yours, so is my diamond too: if I come off, and leave her in such honour as you have trust in, she your jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are yours—

Post.

I embrace these conditions]

I once thought this emendation right, but am now of opinion, that Shakespeare intended that Iachimo, having gained his purpose, should designedly drop the invidious and offensive part of the wager, and to flatter Posthumus, dwell long upon the more pleasing part of the representation. One condition of a wager implies the other, and there is no need to mention both.

I.v.18 (176,1) Other conclusions] Other

experiments

I commend

, says WALTON,

an angler that tries

conclusions, and improves his art.

I.v.23 (175,2) Your highness/Shall from this practice but make hard your heart] Thare is in this passage nothing that much requires a note, yet I cannot forbear to push it forward into observation. The thought would probably have been more amplified, had our author lived to be shocked with such experiments as have been published in later times, by a race of men that have practised tortures without pity, and related then without shame, and are yet suffered to erect their heads among human beings.

"Cape saxa manu, cape robora, pastor."

I.v.33-44 (175,3) I do not like her] This soliloquy is very inartificial. The speaker is under no strong pressure of thought; he is neither resolving, repenting, suspecting, nor deliberating, and yet makes a long speech to tell himself what himself knows.

I.v.54 (176,4) to shift his being] To change his abode.

I.v.58 (118,5) What shalt thou expect,/To be depender on a thing that leans?] That

inclines

towards its fall.

I.v.80 (177,7) Of leigers for her sweet] A

leiger

ambassador, is one that resides at a foreign court to promote his master's interest.

I.vi.7 (178,9)

Bless'd be those,

How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills,

Which seasons comfort]

I am willing to comply with any meaning that can be extorted from the present text, rather than change it, yet will propose, but with great diffidence, a slight alteration:

—Bless'd be those,

How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills,

With reason's

comfort.—

Who gratify their innocent wishes with reasonable enjoyments.

I.vi.35 (180,2) and the twinn'd stones/Upon the number'd beach?] I know not well how to regulate this passage.

Number'd

is perhaps

numerous

Twinn'd stones

I do not understand.

Twinn'd shells

, or

pairs of shells

, are very common. For

twinn'd

, we might read

twin'd

; that is,

twisted, convolved

; but this sense is more applicable to shells than to stones.

I.vi.44 (181,3)

Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos'd,

Should make desire vomit emptiness,

Not so allur'd to feed]

I explain this passage in a sense almost contrary. Iachimo, in this counterfeited rapture, has shewn how the

eyes

and the

judgment

would determine in favour of Imogen, comparing her with the present mistress of Posthumus, and proceeds to say, that appetite too would give the same suffrage.

Desire

, says he, when it approached

sluttery

, and considered it in comparison with

such neat excellence

, would not only be

not so allured to feed

, but, seized with a fit of loathing,

would vomit emptiness

, would feel the convulsions of disgust, though, being unfed, it had nothing to eject. This is not ill conceived; but I think my own explanation right.

To vomit emptiness

is, in the language of poetry, to feel the convulsions of eructation without plenitude. (1773)

I.vi.54 (182,4) He's strange, and peevish] He is a foreigner, easily fretted.

I.vi.97 (184,5) timely knowing] Rather timely

known

I.vi.99 (184,6) What both you spur and stop] What it is that at once incites you to speak, and restrains you from it. I think my explanation true. (see 1765, VII, 286, 7)

I.vi.106 (184,7)

join gripes with hands

Made hard with hourly falshood (falshood as

With labour) then lye peeping in an eye]

The old edition reads,

—join gripes with hands

Made hard with hourly falshood (

falshood

With labour) then by peeping in an eye, &c.

I read,

—then

lye

peeping—

The author of the present regulation of the text I do not know, but have suffered it to stand, though not right.

Hard with falshood

is, hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands.

I.vi.122 (185,8) With tomboys, hir'd with that self-exhibition/Which your own coffers yield!]

Gross strumpets

, hired with the

very pension

which you allow your husband.

I.vi.152 (186,9) As in a Romish stew] The stews of Rome are deservedly censured by the reformed. This is one of many instances in which Shakespeare has mingled in the manners of distant ages in this play.

II.i.2 (188,1) kiss'd the jack upon an up-cast] He is describing his fate at bowls. The

jack

is the small bowl at which the others are aimed. He who is nearest to it wins.

To kiss the jack

is a state of great advantage. (1773)

II.i.15 (189,2) 2

Lord

. No, my lord; nor crop the ears of them. [

Aside

.] This, I believe, should stand thus:

Lord

. No, my lord.

Lord

. Nor crop the ears of them, [

Aside

II.i.26 (189,3) you crow, cock, with your comb on] The allusion is to a fool's cap, which hath a

comb

like a cock's.

II.i.29 (189,4) every companion] The use of

companion

was the same as of

fellow

now. It was a word of contempt.

II.ii.12 (191,1) our Tarquin] The speaker is an Italian.

II.ii.13 (191,2) Did softly press the rushes] It was the custom in the time of our author to strew chambers with rushes, as we now cover them with carpets. The practice is mentioned in

Caius de Ephemera Britannica

II.iii.24 (194,2)

His steeds to water at those springs On chalic'd flowers that lies

]

Hanmer reads,

Each

chalic'd

flower supplies;

to escape a false concord: but correctness must not be obtained by such licentious alterations. It may be noted, that the

cup

of a flower is called

calix

, whence

chalice

II.iii.28 (195,3)

With, every thing that pretty bin

] is very properly restored by Hanmer, for

pretty is

; but he too grammatically reads,

With

all the things

that pretty

bin

II.iii.102 (197,5) one of your great knowing/Should learn, being taught, forbearance] i.e. A man

who is taught forbearance should learn it

II.iii.111 (198,7) so verbal] Is, so

verbose

, so full of talk.

II.iii.118-129 (199,8) The contract you pretend with that base wretch] Here Shakespeare has not preserved, with his common nicety, the uniformity of character. The speech of Cloten is rough and harsh, but certainly not the talk of one,

Who can't take two from twenty, for his heart,

And leave eighteen.—

His argument is just and well enforced, and its prevalence is allowed throughout all civil nations: as for rudeness, he seems not to be mach undermatched.

II.iii.124 (199,9) in self-figur'd knot] [This is nonsense. We should read,

—SELF-FINGER'D

knot

;

WARBURTON.] But why nonsense? A

self-figured knot

is a knot formed by yourself. (see 1765, VII, 301, 8)

II.iv.71 (204,4) And Cydnus swell'd above the banks, or for/The press of boats, or pride] [This is an agreeable ridicule on poetical exaggeration, which gives human passions to inanimate things: and particularly, upon what he himself writes in the foregoing play on this very subject:

"—And made

The water, which they beat, to follow faster,

As amorous of their strokes."

WARBURTON.] It is easy to sit down and give our author meanings which he never had. Shakespeare has no great right to censure poetical exaggeration, of which no poet is more frequently guilty. That he intended to ridicule his own lines is very uncertain, when there are no means of knowing which of the two plays was written first. The commentator has contented himself to suppose, that the foregoing play in his book was the play of earlier composition. Nor is the reasoning better than the assertion. If the language of Iachimo be such as shews him to be mocking the credibility of his hearer, his language is very improper, when his business was to deceive. But the truth is, that his language is such as a skilful villain would naturally use, a mixture of airy triumph and serious deposition. His gaiety shews his seriousness to be without anxiety, and his seriousness proves his gaiety to be without art.

II.iv.83 (205,5) never saw I figures/So likely to report themselves] So near to speech. The Italians call a portrait, when the likeness is remarkable, a

speaking picture

II.iv.84 (205,6) the cutter/Was as another nature, dumb, out-went her;/Motion and breath left out] This emendation I think needless. The meaning is this, The

sculptor

was as

nature

, but as

nature dumb

; he gave every thing that nature gives, but

breath

and

motion

. In

breath

is included

speech

II.iv.91 (205,7)

Post.

This is her honour!] This emendation has been followed by both the succeeding editors, but I think it must be rejected. The expression is ironical. Iachimo relates many particulars, to which Posthumus answers with impatience, This is her honour! That is, And the attainment of this knowledge is to pass for the corruption of her honour.

II.iv.95 (206,8) if you can/Be pale] If you can forbear to flush your cheek with rage.

II.iv.110 (207,9)

The vows of women

Of no more bondage be, to where they are made,

Than they are to their virtues]

The love vowed by women no more abides with him to whom it is vowed, than women adhere to their virtue.

II.iv.127 (207,2) The cognizance] The badge; the token; the visible proof.

III.i.26 (211,2) and his shipping,/(Poor ignorant baubles!) on our terrible seas] [

Ignorant

, for

of no use

. WARB.] Rather,